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President Donald Trump appeared to be referring to a video that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a frequent ally, posted on Twitter on Wednesday that supposedly depicted migrants in Honduras “giving cash” to migrants in the Central American country as they set of for the U.S. | Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Trump, at rally, hints at conspiracy theories for migrant caravan

MISSOULA, Mont. — President Donald Trump on Thursday amped up his focus on immigration ahead of the midterm elections by claiming, without evidence, that Democrats were behind a group of Central American migrants trying to reach the U.S.

“This will be an election of Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order and common sense,” Trump said during a political rally in Missoula, Mont., referring to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

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Returning to the first issue that helped him vanquish more than a dozen Republican rivals in the 2016 campaign, the president emphasized the need to build a border wall, lest his supporters forget about reports of another caravan of 4,000 Central American migrants traveling from Honduras with hopes of entering the U.S. Trump, flirting with conspiracy theories about the possibility that the migrants are being paid off, said money was being “passed through” those very people.

"Now we're starting to find out — and I won't say it 100 percent, I'll put it a little tiny question mark on the end, but we're not going to get it, but we have the fake news back there, fake news — a lot of money has been passing through people to try to get to the border by Election Day, because they think that is a negative for us,” the president told the crowd. “Number one, they are being stopped and number two, regardless, that's our issue."

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Trump appeared to be referring to a video that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a frequent ally, posted on Twitter on Wednesday that supposedly depicted migrants in Honduras “giving cash” to migrants in the Central American country as they set of for the U.S. Going even further, Gaetz called for an investigation to examine whether “US-backed NGOs” or the financier George Soros, a frequent subject of conservative conspiracy theories, were behind the alleged payments. Trump himself tweeted out the video on Thursday.

Regardless of what was actually being passed out in the video, where men are shown handing something to women waiting in line, there was evidence that the video was actually shot in Guatemala, not Honduras.

In an apparent correction of the location, Gaetz tweeted on Thursday: “Because a Honduran government official sent me this video, I believed it came from Honduras.” It is not known when the video was shot.

At the rally, the president added that Democrats figured “everybody coming in” was going to vote for their candidates — though he did not mention that only legal citizens can participate in elections, and that attaining nationality and registering to vote is a process that can’t be completed before Nov. 6.

White House aides and allies said the president has been smarting over the uptick in border crossings and the group heading toward the U.S.-Mexican border. On Trump’s way to the Montana rally, scenes of the caravan played on a loop on Fox News, to which TVs aboard Air Force One were tuned. Presidential aides said that polling they’d reviewed internally showed the migrant issue rising in importance with midterm voters, and that they expected Trump to continue to focus on immigration policies.

Trump praised Mexico during the rally for its help with the caravan before it even gets to Mexico, but the country's ambassador said that Mexico does not have a deal with the U.S. to stop the migrants.

"We work very closely with the United States government in addressing our shared objectives regarding regional migration," Mexican Ambassador to the United States Geronimo Gutierrez told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "Cuomo Prime Time.

According to a New York Timesreport, the group of migrants, estimated to be as large as 4,000 people, is making the journey to America for a number of reasons, including fleeing gang violence in their neighborhoods and others who simply want a more stable life for their children.

Immigration was just one of the themes Trump touched on during his roughly hour-long rally, which was billed as an event to boost the candidacy of Montana State Auditor Matt Rosendale, who is seeking to oust Sen. Jon Tester in what was originally expected to be one of the toughest seats for Democrats to defend.

In his usual loose and off-script style, the president mentioned everything from Hillary Clinton’s emails and the 2012 attack Benghazi, Libya, to the manufacturing of F35s, the treatment of Kavanaugh and just why Montana is called Big Sky country.

“Any guy who can do a body slam is my guy,” Trump said, while praising the Montana Republican. “I think it might help him, and it did,” he added of the effect the episode had on the race.

Republicans have said Senate Democrats’ treatment of Kavanaugh amid allegations of sexual assault jolted their base in the past couple of weeks and has forced candidates like Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) to go on the defensive. Trump has said the handling of his Supreme Court pick’s nomination made Democrats unworthy of holding on to power, but on Thursday he also brought up the treatment of former White House physician Ronny Jackson, saying the two episodes were virtually identical.

Jackson was nominated to be Veterans Affairs secretary, but withdrew from consideration and resigned from his job after reports alleged that he drank on the job, over-prescribed medicine to employees and created a hostile work environment. The allegations against Jackson were primarily publicized by Tester, a fact that Trump hasn’t forgotten.

“He never had a problem in his whole life — a little bit like Justice Kavanaugh. Really a fine, high-quality, handsome guy,” Trump said of Jackson. “He was going to be my choice, and he was attacked so viciously and so violently by Jon Tester.”